


Wake Up to the Bliss of Reality

by Sad_Goat_Noises



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, ChikaIta Week 2020, Crying, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:22:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25705825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sad_Goat_Noises/pseuds/Sad_Goat_Noises
Summary: “𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘱𝘢𝘪, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱.”𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳Written for #ChikaItaWeek2020 week! Chikage has a nightmare, and Itaru is there to help him through the aftermath.
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Utsuki Chikage
Kudos: 57
Collections: ChikaIta Week 2020





	Wake Up to the Bliss of Reality

“Sen… pai?”

Itaru rubbed his eyes and squinted to the other side of the room where Chikage slept. He was thrashing in his bed and clawing at the sheets, looking for purchase.

“Senpai…? are you okay?”

Itaru stumbled out of his bed and, panicking slightly as he watched Chikage’s hands begin to grasp at his own neck, with a grip strength far too powerful to be normal.

Itaru made it to Chikage’s bed and shook him. He didn’t let go of his neck.

“ _Shit_. Senpai. _Senpai_!”

Itaru was shaking him more violently now, but Chikage would not let go.

Itaru swore under his breath and searched the room frantically for some sort of solution. “Think, Itaru, _think_...”

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing he could use.

“Fuck it.”

Itaru grabbed Chikage’s hands with his own and _pulled_.

“Come on, come _on_!” His shouting did nothing to wake Chikage.

He managed to worm his hands under Chikage’s, his roommate clutched onto it just as he had his own neck, and the strength he used scared Itaru.

Chikage’s hands were clammy and he was squeezing Itaru’s to the point where they were slowly turning blue.

“Senpai, please wake up! You’re scaring me!”

Itaru hated this. He hated it so much. Nothing was working - his shouting, his shaking, his begging did _nothing_. All he could do was sit there and keep Chikage from hurting himself. He felt like crying. He was completely and totally useless.

His roommate's breathing was picking up speed and he was thrashing more violently than before, his face was screwed up in pain and Itaru could feel the skin of his palm breaking at the strength of Chikage’s grip.

“Senpai, please, _please_ wake up.”

He was no longer shouting - his voice was barely a whisper

Itaru dropped to his knees and rested his forehead against Chikage’s hands.

“Please, please, please.” He repeated it like a prayer, as though hoping it would keep his panic at bay.

He could’ve sworn he sat there for hours before finally, finally, there was a loud gasp and the hands that had been clutching to him were ripped away.

“Senpai!”

Chikage was sitting up and clutching his head. He was hyperventilating and Itaru felt more and more panicked by the second as tears started to fall from his usually composed senpai’s face.

He hovered over Chikage, wanting to help but unsure of what to do. His senpai had never been the hugging type, or the type to need comforting, so Itaru was not well equipped for this situation.

“Uh… Senpai, can I touch you?”

Chikage jumped and looked at Itaru, fear painting his face a sickly pale.

“Ch-Chigasaki?”

“Hey, Senpai. Welcome back to the real world.”

Itaru smiled down at him, though he couldn’t imagine it looked very comforting considering how shaky it felt, but it seemed to be exactly what Chikage needed.

Chikage grabbed Itaru’s arm and pulled him down and into a tentative hug.  
“You’re here.”

Itaru hummed in agreement. “Yeah.”

“It was just a dream. Thank god.”

Itaru didn’t comment on the way Chikage’s voice cracked, or how his shoulder was becoming increasingly more wet, just moved to sit next to him.

“Mhm… do you want to talk about it? Or do you just wanna hug it out?”

“...”

He assumed by the silence the answer would be the latter, and just as he was about to sink into Chikage’s warmth, Chikage pulled back.

“I… I hurt you.”

Itaru blinked in surprise, but did not stop him.

“I hurt you, and Spring. I was watching from above as ‘April’ slowly tortured you. He - he was taunting me, saying that this was my fate, and how everyone I got close to would die eventually.”

“Sen-”

“What if he’s right?”

Chikage, who had been staring at his shaking hands, looked up at Itaru, eyes cold and distant. It didn’t look like Chikage at all. It looked like the man they used to know - the man who withdrew himself from the kindness and warmth of family.

“Senpai, listen to me.”

Chikage nodded hesitantly.

“This April, whoever he is or whoever he might have been, is wrong - you would never, ever, hurt one of us. We’re family, you love us just as much as we love you; that’s how it works. We would trust you with our lives.”

Chikage was shocked at Itaru’s words, and so, admittedly, was Itaru - they were far too vulnerable and sincere.

“But I could hurt you— _have_ hurt you.”

Itaru tilted his head and stared out at the moon. Chikage couldn’t help but think it made him look even more beautiful.

“Maybe. But that was then. It’s different now.” Itaru turned and smiled at Chikage, and Chikage felt his voice catch in his throat.

Itaru’s eyes were full of love and admiration. Chikage felt like crying - he didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve the family he found, he didn’t deserve the affection, or the warmth, he didn’t deserve forgiveness. But what he did or did not deserve didn’t matter to Spring, or Itaru - they gave him everything he could ever want, and even more.

“Senpai, this is your home, and you will always be welcome, no matter what might happen. As much as I wish it was, life isn’t a game - there isn’t a set route or ending. It’s completely up to us how we live our lives. So, how do you want to live?”

Chikage felt tears begin to fall down his face. It started quiet, but he slowly descended into loud sobbing. Itaru wrapped his arms around Chikage’s waist and rested his head on the his shoulder. Chikage clung to the back of Itaru’s shirt like a lifeline. The tears came hard, fast and incessantly.

“I - I want to live as Chikage Utsuki the actor. I want to live as a part of the Spring Troupe, I want to stay here forever!”

Itaru rubbed slow circles into Chikage’s hips.

“Then what’s stopping you? Come on, Senpai, you’re a cheat character. I’m sure this’ll be a piece of cake.”

Chikage snorts. “What an uncute junior.”

Itaru groans and buries his head further into Chikage’s shoulder. “Shut up. I pour my heart and soul out and that's how you thank me? What an unromantic senpai.”

Chikage pulled back and wiped the last of his tears away. “Thank you, Chikgasaki. This helped more than you could ever know.”

Itaru rolls his eyes. “You’re welcome. Wanna go back to sleep?”

Chikage shakes his head. “I don’t think I’ll be able to.”

“...Can we play Kniroun together? Think of it as a thank you.”

“Okay, but just this once.”

Itaru jumped up from the bed and pumped his fist into the air. “Yes! GG me! Level cleared!”

Chikage raised an eyebrow, and despite the fact that he had been crying, he looked as composed as usual.

“Level cleared?”

Itaru groaned. “I’ve been trying to get you to do this for like, ever. Also, why do you look so good? Literally seconds ago you were sobbing into my shoulder.”

Chikage only grinned. “I’m a cheat character, remember?”

“Senpai, you are the worst.”

Despite his words, Itaru’s expression was one that could only be described as fond.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! A big thanks to Cleo, Nally and Krysi for beta-ing this! 
> 
> (Come scream at me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/Sad_Goat_Noises))


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